FALCONID^. 



341 



THE GREENLAND FALCON. 



Falco candicans, J. F. Gmelin. 



Considerable difference of opinion has long existed respecting the 

 specific distinctness of some of the large Northern Falcons, for 

 which several systematists have adopted the genus Hierofako ; and 

 the late ]\Ir. John Hancock was the first to show that in the Green- 

 land Falcon the prevailing ground-colour is white at all ages, whereby 

 it may always be distinguished from the Iceland Falcon, or any 

 other member of the group which occurs in Europe. Being a 

 summe-r-inhabitant of Arctic regions, where food is almost unobtain- 

 able in winter, this species is forced to migrate, and consequently 

 examples have been taken from time to time in the British Islands. 

 These have naturally occurred with greater frequency in Scotland and 

 the north of England than in the south, though an immature bird, 

 the subject of the present figure and now in the British Museum, 

 was shot in Pembrokeshire, and examples have been obtained in 



